MLB games will look different in spring training and the regular season in 2026, as the league will be using the Automated Ball-Strike Challenge System in every ballpark for the first time in the big leagues.
The ABS Challenge System, which was tested in the minor leagues and during roughly 60% of spring training games this past season, was approved in September after a vote from the Joint Competition Committee. The system is the neutral ground between “robot umpires”, in which strike zone calls are fully automated, and the human element of the league’s longtime umpiring arrangement, in which none of the ball and strike calls are automated.
